Alpha fire police redirect traffic at the intersection of North Atherton Street and College Avenue in State College. Atherton was closed from College to Park Avenue due to flooding Sunday afternoon. CDT photo

Alpha fire police redirect traffic at the intersection of North Atherton Street and College Avenue in State College. Atherton was closed from College to Park Avenue due to flooding Sunday afternoon. CDT photo

Flooding closes State College streets

A line of thunderstorms caused flooding and shut down parts of State College roads early Sunday afternoon.

The eastbound lanes of College Avenue near the Blaise Alexander auto dealership were closed, as was Atherton Street from Park Avenue to College Avenue.

State College police said each closure lasted from an hour to an hour and 15 minutes and that each location has a history of flooding. Orchard Road between Park Avenue and Puddintown Road also closed for a short period, according to State College police.

At least one crash was reported during the storm. George El-Mallakh rear-ended a vehicle on Atherton Street driven by Jennifer Mitchell, 42, of Huntingdon. There were no injuries.

Carl Erickson, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said that 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain fell during the storm.

“I have not heard specifically of any other flooding, but I’m sure there were more instances out there, but I don’t know of anything else at this moment,” Erickson said.

“It was a very localized line of thunderstorms, and it was a moving slowly. The main corridor of it was from Pine Grove Mills to State College to Houserville. That’s where there was the heaviest rain.”

The weather is forecast to dry up on Monday.

“Things will get quiet deeper into the night, and (Monday) it will be sunny and there will be a whole day for things to dry out there,” Erickson said.

The scoreboard is reflected in the flood waters of Memorial Field in State College. CDT photo

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.